An Immortal Pain in the Ass
by twirltheflag
Summary: Kai Ying ran from her home in Xing for a reason; To avoid marriage. So when Ling, the 12th son of the Emperor of Xing, decides to take her home to secure her hand in marriage, she vows to give him hell. Rated for language and crude humor and may change.
1. Chapter 1

**First of all, I just wanna say, for those of you who are waiting for the next chapter in "Tame This Shrew. I Dare You". Not to worry, I'm just having a little bit of writers block on the Ouran end of things. It tends to happen when ever I write to much on one subject. But I'm not ending it, I promise you that. There will be more.**

An Immortal Pain in the Ass

Name: Kai Ying (meaning especially bright)

Age: 16

Height: 5'9"

Looks: Black hair to mid back with most of her bangs covering her left eye while the rest frame the right side of her face. Onyx eyes. Appears to have a petite body type but, in actuality, has strong muscles.

Skills: Martial arts and Water Alkehistory.

Alkehistory skills: Kai has these blue and white fingerless gloves with the water Alkehistory array sewn on. These gloves are made from a special fabric that Kai invented herself. It's Hydronet; every time she moves her hands in certain patterns, the gloves release hydrogen atoms into the air, which is full of oxygen. In short, she can create water out of thin air, so to speak. Also, she can control any water form because of the array on her gloves.

Likes and Hobbies: Water Alkehistory, martial arts, healing, dancing, singing, sewing, sword fighting.

Background: Daughter to the Chief of the Ying clan in Xing. Has excelled in studies that were not just meant for women but also in jobs that were reserved for men, hence her name. Promised to which ever son succeeds the Emperors throne, against her will. Ran away from home after her 16th birthday to escape her fate.

….

Hungry.

So very hungry.

I had been trekking through the desert for what seemed like ages.

And finally.

I was out.

I was finally on the eastern border of Ametris.

Rush Valley.

"Gotta… find… food…"

Voice: "Hey are you okay?"

Darkness.

….

I woke up in a bed.

The first bed I'd slept inn since I ran away from home.

I was so comfy.

I lay on my side and curled up into a ball, enjoying the comfort.

Suddenly, I heard the door open.

I looked up to see a blond girl in a black sports bra, a short blond boy in a black tank top and a tall man in a suit of armor.

The girl smiled and said, "Glad to see you're awake."

I smiled at her.

She set a tray down in front of me and it was full of food. I gobbled the whole thing up in no time at all.

"Ah, that was gooooooood! Thank you so much."

The girl smiled and gestured to the two boys, saying "Don't thank me. These are the one's that brought you here after you fainted."

I turned to the boys.

"You have my deepest gratitude."

I bowed down to them.

"No big deal!"

"Glad we could help!"

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kai Ying."

"I'm Winry Rockbell."

"Edward and Alphonse Elric."

"Pleased to meet you."

The blond boy looked at me skeptically. "So, you wanna tall us why you were wondering around, nearly falling down from hunger."

I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment.

"Well, I guess I should have packed more food for my journey. I didn't think I was gonna be in the desert for as long as I was."

They were all staring at me.

"What?"

"You traveled across the desert?"

"Didn't I tell you? I came from Xing."

The boys were shocked. "WHAT? Why did come all the across the desert."

I looked down.

"I'm… running… My life in Xing would basically amount to nothing and I want more than that."

I looked up and smiled.

"So, as soon as I get some money, I'm heading to Central and joining the Military as, what your people call, a State Alchemist."

They smiled at me.

Ed was especially excited. "That's great! I'm a State Alchemist! Maybe I can put in a good word for you!

"I'd greatly appreciate that!"

Winry jumped in. "Hey, why don't you do some work here around the shop? You can earn some money."

Me: "That's a wonderful idea.

My first day in a new country. And things were going better than I'd thought.

'From here on out, what could possibly go wrong?'


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

~One Week Later~

Things were going really well.

Ed, Al and I spent the days talking about Alchemy and Alkehistory.

Ed even taught me how to change my hair color with Alchemy.

I decided to change my hair color to be just like Ed's. I figured that if anyone came looking for me, the hair color change would maybe throw them off.

And Winry and I were really hitting it off.

I wasn't making much money but it was a start.

Everything was going so well.

One day, I was helping Winry find some parts for Ed's Automail arm. He had busted it up in a fight but Winry didn't have everything that she needed. So we spent the day shopping around for these parts.

We came back to the shop we worked at around sunset.

We returned to find Ed with his arm in worse shape than it was when he needed it fixed that morning. It was completely ripped off.

Winry started scolding Ed for his recklessness.

But I wasn't hearing what was being said.

I was looking at the tall man standing in the corner of the shop.

He had mid-back length, black hair that was tied in a ponytail and flippy bangs over his left eye. His eyes were shifty. His white and yellow shirt hung open, revealing his formed chest. White clothe was wrapped around his waist and wrists and he wore baggy white pants and black Xingese flats. A curved sword hung from his waist.

This man was Ling Yao, the 12th son of the Emperor of Xing.

I froze when I saw him.

We both just stared at each other.

'Please don't know who I am. Please don't know who I am. Please don't know who I am.'

A smirk spread over his face.

"Good to see you, Kai Ying. We've been worried about you."

I dropped all the Automail supplies I was carrying.

I threw myself into a series of back flips. Once I got to the other side of the street, I flipped my self onto the roof of the store that was just across the Automail shop.

When I looked around, I found that there were two Xingese warriors on either side of me.

I looked back towards the Automail store to see Ling standing outside, smirking up at me.

"You know, your family and your clan miss you. In fact they miss you so much that they've changed their plans and have promised you to any of the Emperor's sons that brings you home, weather that son becomes Emperor or not. I guess it's my lucky day."

I glared down at him.

"I'm not going back."

"You have no choice."

The Xingese warriors took out their weapons. One had kunai while the other bore a katana.

I glared back at Ling.

"So the spoiled little prince looks to his attendants to do his dirty work while he doesn't bother to dirty his hands. If you're going to make threats like saying that I don't have a choice in going back to Xing, why don't you do the work yourself?"

I could tell that I was really pissing off one of the warriors.

But Ling kept his cool. His smirk even widened.

"Are you saying you'd rather fight me, mano-a-mano?"

I returned his smirk with my own.

"Oh, so you can fight your own battles… without calling up your cronies… under any circumstances?"

Silence.

Ling snapped his fingers. The warriors disappeared.

My smirk grew.

'He fell for it.'

"Now, catch up, if you can!"

I ran along, jumping from roof top to roof top.

'I need to get away. I don't want to have to fight him if it can be avoided. If one of us gets hurt, our clans we'll be at war till the end of time. I may not like the cultural choices of my people, but I'll not start a civil war because of it.'

I was thinking so hard that I almost didn't see something in the corner of my eye.

Ling had caught up to me and was jumping in the same patterns I was, but he was making no move to stop me.

"So, what was that you said about catching up?"

I smirked.

"Not bad… but can you keep up?'

I created kunai and daggers out of ice and started throwing them at him.

He not only dodged them with ease, but they didn't even slow him down.

"You know, all of Xing has heard about your Alkehistory skills, but the rumors hardly do you justice. Color me completely impressed."

I smirked at him.

"You say it as if your opinion matters."

I flipped off the last building of the street, land on the balls of my feet.

Ling touched down 10 feet away from me.

"Enough of this."

He drew his sword.

"Fine. Have it your way."

I waved my hand through the air, creating a saber out of ice.

I lunged for Ling.

Our swords clashed and we held each other, our faces inches from touching.

"A sword of ice that can stand up to steel. Not bad."

I swung my foot around in an attempt to trip him. He flipped away.

We kept fighting.

I was using all my energy in this fight because I knew that, if I lost, it was my future. Where as Ling was barely breaking a sweat.

I launched myself into a long chain of attacks, hoping to catch him off guard.

He was blocking my attacks like they were nothing.

'Why is this happening? I was best sword fighter in the Ying clan. No one could beat me.'

I felt slicing pain on my arm. He had sliced my hand open, cutting through the Water Alkehistory Array on my glove.

Not good.

First of all, making and repairing Hydronet gloves is not easy.

Secondly, with out that array, I could still create water but I had not control over it.

I took hold of my hand, trying to stop the bleeding.

Ling took hold of my hand as well, and he threw it down, forcing me to roll onto my back.

I moaned in pain and frustration.

I couldn't let this happen.

I felt him stand over me.

I felt the cold steel of his sword slide over my left arm, under my glove that was still in tact.

With a swift pull, the gloves was cut off my arm and ruined.

I opened my eyes and glared at his upside down smirking mug.

He squatted down so he could get right up in my face.

"You put up a good fight, Kai. It's a pity you couldn't be a part of the army. Oh well, perhaps I can still use you."

"I am not your tool!"

I pushed myself onto the top of my back, throwing my foot at his face.

He caught my foot like it was nothing.

His smirk grew wider.

He turned so that his back was to me and pulled on my foot as hard as he could.

My legs were thrown over his shoulder while my face made contact with his back.

In short, he had thrown me over his shoulder _from the back._

"Put me! Put down right now, Ling. I swear I'll shove an icicle up your ass!"

He carried me all the way back the Automail shop while I yelled at him.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

Ling kicked in the door to my room.

I was still on his shoulder, screaming and struggling.

He threw me onto the bed.

I imeadiatly sat up and gave a warning finger.

"Don't you dare!"

"Would you calm down? I actually have some class."

He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of me.

"I just want you to ask you some questions."

"And if I refused to answer?"

I felt a kunai being pressed to my neck.

The cronies were back.

I sighed in frustration.

"Now, Kai, I need some information on Alkehistory."

"Why do you care about Alkehistory?"

"Well, you see, there's something I'm looking for that has a big connection to Alkehistory."

He rested his elbows on his knees and gave me a hard look, trying to frighten me.

"What do you know about the Philosopher's stone?"

I gave him a long stare.

"Why do you even care about that thing?"

"As you know, the Emperor's health has started to go downhill. So, an heir must be chosen soon. And because of the competition, I need to have something on my side that will put me in the Emperor's favor."

"And the philosepher's stone will up your chances how?"

He gave me s smirk.

"It will help me achieve immortality."

I gave him another long stare.

"You're talking to the wrong Alkehistorists. All I know about the philosopher's stone is rumors. Rumor's that you've probably already heard."

"You don't have one little tid bit for me?"

"Sorry, but the philosopher's stone was never an interest of mine; always seemed too good to be true."

Ling sighed.

"Oh well. I guess that's that."

The cronies disappeared and Ling stood up. He slipped his sword off and leaned it against the wall.

"Now we can move on to more important things."

I didn't like the sound of his voice or the look in his eye. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What kinda things?"

He gave me a smirk.

He slipped off his Xingese shirt and let it fall to the floor, revealing abs that, honestly, could've been carved by angels.

I could feel the heat in my cheeks rise, both from anger and embarrassment.

"Hell no!"

I stood up and began to march out of the room. Ling took hold of my forearm and pushed me back onto the bed.

He straddled my hips. He leaned in towards me, forcing me to lean against the wall.

"I thought you said you had more class than this."

"I said I had more class than to take advantage of a woman after meeting her for the first time. But when she's going to be my wife, there's nothing wrong with a little… caressing."

He popped his eyebrows at me and started to lean in closer.

Men had never treated me like this. The blood was rising to my cheeks and my mind was drawing a blank. I didn't know what to do.

He made contact with my neck. He lightly kissed it over and over again. It was sending shivers up and down my spine.

'DO SOMETHING, YOU IDIOT! DON'T LET HIM DO THIS TO YOU!'

I threw my hands out, striking him on the ears.

He stumbled off of me, holding his ears and groaning in pain.

I jumped up and ran down the stairs and into the bathroom. I took out a piece of chalk and draw the array for water Alkehistory on the door. Ice spread over the door, sealing it up.

I leaned against the wall and took deep breathes. That was far too close.

I was jumped at the pounding on the door that came quiet suddenly.

"KAI! OPEN THIS DOOR, RIGHT NOW! KAI!"

I looked around the room. There was no window. No vent, only a tiny wall light.

The only way out was the way to Ling.

This room started to remind me of how trapped I was in my own life.

I slid to the floor, hugging my knees to my chest.

I was chosen to be married off to the heir to the throne when I was just a baby.

No one even cared to ask me if I wanted to get married.

My life goals meant nothing to my family, my clan, my people, my race.

They shut all the doors of opportunity that were ever open to me.

The thoughts of my damned life. The closed off feeling from this dark room. The over whelming darkness and banging and yelling sounds from Ling.

All of it was making me panic.

The room began t spin.

It was hard to breathe.

I started crying.

The next thing I knew, someone was shaking me.

"KAI! KAI!"

I snapped out of it and found Ed holding my shoulders. Al and Winry were stand behind him, looking at me, worried.

I was panting from the panic and my knees were so weak I couldn't even stand up.

Ed and Winry supported me over to a chair at the table. Al gave me a glass of ice water.

"Thanks."

I started gulping the water down.

Crashing.

I looked to see Ed and Ling glaring at one another.

"What'd you do to her?"

"Nothing."

"Liar. What were you doing to her up there?

"None of your business, 肖蒂。"

Xingese for 'shorty'. Good thing Ed didn't know.

"It's totally my business, Prince boy."

"Don't get involved."

Ling stormed up the stairs.

Ed came up to me and knelt next to my chair.

"What did he do to you?"

"Nothing."

"Kai."

He had that 'don't lie to me tone' in his voice.

"Ed, you can't get involved."

"Why not?"

"Because it could start a war. Kill Ling, and the emperor will start build up his army to attack Amestris. Neither country can handle it, nor do they want to deal with it."

Ed was angry at the fact that I was right.

"Don't worry, Ed."

I got a hard look in my eyes.

"He's not gonna get the better of me."

I pushed myself up and walked up stairs, as best I could.

I was just about to walk into my room.

"So you take care of this yourself, huh?"

I could feel him smirking at me.

I clenched my fists and bit the inside of my cheek.

I turned back to glare at the smirking figure leaning against the wall.

I rolled his shoulder back, pushing himself off the wall and he started advancing on me.

I stood my ground, digging my heels in.

Finally, we were shoulder to shoulder, with him smirking at my serious face.

"Well. If it puts your mind at ease, I promise to be good and gentle from now on."

The smirk made we question that promise.

He placed his hand on the back of my neck.

He pressed his lips to my forehead.

I closed my eyes, expecting to feel that same touch that made me shiver.

But this contact was warm. Almost nurturing.

He pulled away and I opened my eyes, looking at him with my hard eyes.

"高枕無憂，小女神。"

He walked into another room and shut the door behind him.

'Rest easy, little goddess.'

**FYI: I USED CHINESE AS THE XINGESE LANGUAGE.**


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

*On the Train to Central*

I was rolling the remainder of my gloves around in my hands.

Ed and Al watched me.

"If there any way to fix them."

"Well, one is completely ruined, even if I could sew it back together. The blood stains have destroyed the array. It's useless now. The other one could still work but sewing Hydronet is extremely complicated. It took me years to perfect these gloves."

"Wait a minuet! Maybe I can help!"

I looked at Ed's smiling face, suddenly understanding what he meant.

"Oh, could please try?"

"No problem."

Ed lay the reminants of my left gloves on the floor.

He clapped his hands together and touched the fabric.

Blue Alchemy light flashed.

My glove was fully fixed.

"Thanks, Ed!"

I reached down to grabbed the glove.

Something flashed in front of my hand and the glove was gone.

I looked up to find Ling's female follower handing the glove to him.

I glared at that smirking face as Ed yelled at him.

"Give it back, Ling!"

"I'm afraid I can't. We can't have Kai giving me anymore trouble now can we."

I glared at him harder, angered by the fact that there was nothing I could do.

'Some one help me.'

I turned away and headed for the door to our train car.

"And where are you going, 小女神?"

I stopped as my back went rigid.

He just kept calling me 'little goddess'. It was really getting on my nerves.

I turned and glared at him.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm going for a walk."

"Then, I'll come with you."

"The hell you will."

"Why not?"

"You're the reason why I'm going for the walk. I need to get away from you, asshole."

The girl, LanFan, threw a kunai at me, as she had done every time I threw insults at Ling.

I threw my self into a Dragon Kick, kicking the kunai to my left.

I gave both Ling and LanFan one last glare before I turned and left the car.

I walked along through the cars trying some place quiet to clam myself. But I was constantly feeling eyes on me.

"What do you want, old man?"

Fu, Ling's other attendant was suddenly at my side.

"Master Ling asked me to keep an eye on you."

"The cat making sure the mouse doesn't come out of it's hole."

He stayed silent towards my bitter tone.

I started walking along, leaving him behind.

"Might I ask a question, Mistress Kai."

"Don't call me 'Mistress'. What is it?"

"Why won't you give Master Ling a chance?"

I froze, thinking about the question.

"If you would just show him a little respect, he would return it."

"Why should I give him a chance at respect when he won't give me a chance at life?"

I looked at Fu, waiting for answer.

He couldn't give me one.

I continued to walk through out the cars, without Fu.

…

We finally arrived at Central.

And Ling was missing.

While Fu and LanFan were worried and looking for him, Ed and I were relieved.

We walked around Central. When we got to the middle out town, we all split up. LanFan and Fu went looking for Ling, Ed and Al went to the military offices, Winry went to go visit the, so named, Hughes Family, and decided to look for some fabric shops. I was hoping that there might be some supplies that might help me make new gloves.

While I was walking around the shopping district, I came upon a huge crowd of people.

'What's going on?'

I pushed my way through the people and found the answer to my question.

2 military officers were standing over Ling's collapsed body.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"… Food…"

"Collasped by the side of the road, huh?"

"Where'd you come from? …. What's that? From Xing, you say?"

"Well you're a long way from home, alright."

"I'll need to see your entry Visa please."

Judging from the silence, I guessed that Ling didn't have an entry Visa.

I smirked and shook my head.

'So stupid.'

The military officers linked their arms through Ling's and started dragging him away, calling him an illegal alien.

Suddenly, Ling saw me.

"Wait a minute! That girl back there is my wife! I can't leave her behind."

The crowd and the military officers looked at me.

A smirk spread over Ling's face.

They dragged Ling back and one of the officers came up to me.

"Miss, I'm afraid were going to have to take you."

I pulled out a little booklet and handed it to the officer.

"Sir, I've got my visa right here. If you'd like to take a look at it, I think you'll find everything is in order."

He flipped though the booklet and handed it back to me.

"Looks fine to me but we're going to have to take you're husband in."

"Sir, he's not my husband."

Ling looked at me with skeptical eyes.

"Actually, I don't really even know him. All I know is that he's been following me, ever since I left Xing. I've tried to get away from him but he always finds me."

Tears started welling up in my eyes and Ling looked at me in shock.

"In fact, I think he's been stealing things from me. Clothes. Undergarments. I think he even took one of my gloves. Search his pockets."

The military officers search Ling's pockets and found my glove.

They handed it back to me.

"We'll get this pervert straightened out, Miss. Sorry for the misunderstanding."

I sniffled.

"Not at all officer. Thank you for catching the rogue."

They started dragging Ling away.

He was still looking at me in shock.

When, no one was looking, I gave him a cocky wave.

I turned around and walked away.

'Finally, I'm free.'


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5

Something very strange was going on.

From what I understood, a friend of the Elrics, Maes Hughes, was shot while the boys were in Rush Valley. Another friend, Maria Ross, was accused of the crime and, apparently found guilty. She escaped from imprisonment and was about to be free from the law when the commanding officer, Roy Mustang, used fire alchemy to burn her to death.

Ed and Al were extremely bitter towards him for doing this.

The next thing we knew, Ed was being taken back to his home town of Risembool by a man by the name of Alex Louis Armstrong.

I didn't like what was happening one bit.

But, I need to work on making a new glove. And, maybe, even a back up pair.

I managed to find many yards worth of Hydronet in central, which was a lucky break for me. But the difficult part was creating the array on the glove with out ruining it.

After hours of trying different threads, different needles, etc., I decided to take a break and grab some food.

I walked out of my room into the main room.

Al and Winry were just sitting around talking.

But that's not why I froze.

Ling was sitting right next to Winry.

We both looked at each other.

Ling threw himself into the air and landed right in front of me.

His flat hand was flying at me.

I caught it by the wrist and wrapped my arm around it.

"You wanna tell me what you thinking back there? Throwing me to the dogs like that? Lying through your little teeth?"

"I saw an opportunity and I took it."

"I'm a fugitive because of you."

"You would've been a fugitive anyway, even without my help. Only an idiot doesn't think to have a Visa with them."

He ripped out of my grasp and glared at me.

"Speaking of which, how do you have an entry Visa? You trip to Amestris was just as sudden as my own."

"None of your business."

I walked up to the phone and called room service for some food.

Once I was done calling, Al stood up and said that he need to help his friends find the Person who killed Hughes. Ling tried to make him stop so that he could hear the secret to immortality but Al was determined to go. After he left, Winry decided to go see the Hughes family again.

That left Ling and I… alone… in a hotel room…

Well, not completely alone; LanFan was watching from outside.

Strangely, Ling didn't try anything for a while.

He sat on one of the beds, looking out the window while I sat on the couch, continuing with my Hydronet expiraments.

We sat in piercing silence that was almost tangible, each of us still angry with the other.

I tried to ignore it and just calm myself while I did the needle work.

Suddenly, my sore, left index finger burst with pain.

I dropped my needle and the fabric, wincing at the pain.

I took a look at my finger.

After stabbing myself with the needle many times, my finger hand opened up and started bleeding.

'Great. I better go wash it before the blood gets onto the fabric.'

I stood up and started walking towards the bathroom.

Ling grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.

I tried to pull away from him, slamming my right fist onto his chest.

He took hold of that wrist too and pressed it against his chest.

He lifted my hand to his mouth and he stuck my bleeding finger into his mouth.

I froze, shocked by what he was doing.

He waited until the bleeding stopped. Then, he slipped his hand under mine and pulled his mouth away from my finger.

He lightly pressed his lips to my knuckles.

I realized that I was letting him do it.

I ripped my hands away from him and gave him one last glare.

I went to one of the night stand drawers and pulled out some thin bandages.

'Might as well make it so that I won't bleed again.'

I sat and started wrapping my finger.

But my fingers were to fumbling and shaky. It was impossible for me to wrap.

Ling stepped onto the little coffee table in front of me and sat cross legged in front of me.

I pulled away from him and gave him a glare.

He held out his hand, respectfully asking for the bandages.

I looked from his face to his hand, trying to decide whether he was gonna try anything again.

He looked at me very seriously.

I, hesitantly, gave him the bandages.

He took my hand and held it right in front of him.

He, gently, wrapped the bandages around it over and over again.

He tied off the bandages and lightly held my hand in both of his.

"Why are you being so nice?"

He looked me straight in the eye.

"One must always honor and worship his 小女神。"

"Stop calling me that and tell the truth."

He looked me straight in the eye again.

"I'm just doing what ever it takes to get you back to Xing."

"You're wasting your time."

I tried to pick up my needle work but Ling pressed his hand onto mine, making it impossible for me to pull it up.

"At least explain why you left and why you never want to go back."

"You wouldn't understand."

I looked up to find that his face was inches from mine.

"Try me."

I glared at his challenging face.

"You wouldn't understand. You're a man. What's more, you're a son of the Emperor of Xing. You can have what ever future you want. No one stops you from anything or makes decisions without your say in the matter. You are the master of your life."

I looked away from him.

"It's different for girls. It seems that the only thing were good for is bearing children. So, from the moment we're born, our parents decide who we are to marry. They don't ask if we want to marry the person they choose. They don't ask if we even want to get married."

"And you don't want to get married?"

I glared at him.

"See, even you don't listen. You just assume. I want to get married… but not to you… or any of your brothers, especially which ever one of you becomes Emperor."

Ling stood up on the table, angrily.

"And what's wrong with being the wife of the Emperor?"

I stood up myself and stepped onto the table, and glared up at him.

"You really need to ask? To be a wife to the Emperor of Xing is to be 1 of 50. 1 wife out of 50 wives, all married off so that they could bear the _possible_ heir to the Emperor's throne. If they can't have children, they're deemed useless and shunned. The moment they give birth, they're ignored."

"But that's how things have always been done!"

"So, just because our ancestors did the same thing, that makes it the _only_ way? The _right_ way which should never be questioned, no matter how much times change? Is that what you're telling me?"

He looked at me for a second, trying to find a good, logical answer that I couldn't argue with, but he looked away when he couldn't find one.

"I don't just want be a way to have as many heirs as possible, Ling. I want to change the world and I want to change the world of the man I'll marry. I want to actually mean something to him."

Ling, suddenly, grabbed my shoulders and crashed his lips onto mine.

I stared, wide-eyed, not knowing what to do.

That voice in my head was yelling at me to get him off of me but I was frozen.

After a moment, which seemed like eternity, he slid from my lips to my chin. He kissed along my jaw line.

"Ling?"

He started pushed me back wards until I was sitting on the couch. He knelt beside me and started kissing my neck.

"Ling?"

He pushed me back until I was lying on my back. His hand gently lifted up my shirt and started rubbing my stomach.

"Ling. None of this is going to change anything."

He froze.

"I've made up my mind."

He pressed his forehead to mind.

"Isn't there anything I can do?"

I didn't say a word.

I just pushed him off me.

I stood up, grabbed my needle work and locked myself in my part of the hotel room.


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6

My suspicions were confirmed.

There was something weird going on.

How do I know?

Well, in the first place Al came back with one arm that fell off completely and other pieces of him were missing. He said that there were also two military men who were being hospitalized.

He had said that they got into a huge fight with a homunculous, or artificial human who, apparently, can't die.

Of course, the moment Ling heard the "not dieing" part, he jump up, saying that he and Lan Fan would help the Elrics attract the Homunculi's attention by fighting against a killer who targeted State Alchemists. A man by the name of Scar.

Naturally, the only reason why Ling wanted to help out was because he wanted the secret of immortality.

My motives on the other hand were pure; the Elrics had helped me ever since I cam to Amestris. I owed them this.

"I'm in."

"No, your not."

I glared at Ling. "Yes, I am. After all, didn't you say that they'd have better odds with more help?"

"You're important; I can't let some one take what I've been promised."

I stood up and slammed my foot down on the coffee table. "I am not property. I am not cargo and my parents may have promised me to someone but it's, ultimately, my decision. I belong to no one."

He stood up and slammed his foot on the coffee table, too, right next to mine. "I absolutely forbid you to get involved!"

"You can't tell me what to do!"

"Maybe not… but I can do this."

He grabbed me an threw me over his shoulder. I struggled against his grip as he marched towards where my sleeping room was.

He walked into my room, dropped me onto the bed and marched out, saying, "Don't miss me too much."

I ran after him, but the door shut and locked before I could grab him.

I pounded and slammed myself on the door, yelling at him to let me out.

…

After about 30 minutes, I had grown so tired that I just collapsed on the floor.

I woke up the next day, around noon.

My hands were covered in blisters and there was a huge bruise on my shoulder from throwing my self at the door.

But that didn't stop me.

I took one of the hotel's business cards from off of the coffee table.

I slipped the card through the crack in the door and started jiggling the knob.

Finally, the door came unlocked.

I, immediately, jumped out the window and started running around town, looking for signs of the Elrics.

I, suddenly, felt a shock to my system when I felt a strange presence. Anyone from Xing could feel presences and we've felt all kinds. But nothing like this.

The presence came from the roof tops.

I found a building that was easy to scale and started climbing.

Just before I got to the top, I heard Ling screaming Lan Fan's name.

Something was wrong.

I jump my way to the top.

Lan Fan was falling.

I ran and, immediately, caught her.

"Clever. You took a swipe at me with your kunai. But who, may I ask, are you, young lady?"

I looked up to see a tall, one-eye man in a military uniform, brandishing a broken sword.

Behind him, was a short but very fat creature that had human features but was far more grotesque.

I glared at the one-eyed man, saying, "I don't answer to the military."

"Can I eat them now?"

"Just make it quick."

What? The fat one was going to eat us?

He launched himself into the air.

I took Lan Fan up in my arms and jumped back.

When I looked back, Ling had cut the man's head in half.

He came over to us. I could see that he was mad that I was here but he knew that we needed to tend to Lan Fan first.

He tried to take her from me but I held on tightly.

He glared at me, telling me to hand her over with his eyes. I, silently, told him that he would need two free hands.

When the one-eyed man made a move towards Ling, he instantly let go.

I tried to make a run for it to get Lan Fan to safety but the fat man got it my way.

'What? How could he survive-'

That was when his fists slammed into my chest, sending me and Lan Fan flying across the street and crashing through another building's windows.

Pretty soon, Ling came flying in after us.

We pushed ourselves off the floor and found the men were waiting for us.

The one-eyed man said, "Good. We should have some privacy in here. If you don't mind, I have some questions. First, I want to know who you people are and how you found out what's inside Gluttony."

Ling started looking around.

"You looking for an escape? Even now? You don't give up, do you? You two might stand a fare chance at getting away if you'd only abandon the injured girl because she's just excess baggage at this point."

Ling started getting mad.

"Excess baggage? I can see all those stars on your uniform. You're the ruler here, Feruh King Bradly, unless I'm mistaken."

What? This man was the King? He was Ed's boss? I actually thought that working for this man would be better than my life in Xing?

"A ruler's duty is to his people. Without them, he is no King at all."

I looked at Ling.

I'd never heard him talk like this before.

He sounded like he actually cared for the people of Xing.

So… why did he never act that way when it came to me?

Why is it that, when it came to the importance of ruling for the people, I was the exception?

Why did he have a duty to the people but not to me?

"King Bradly, you're no true King. Not now or ever!"

"Naïve boy. Don't you understand? There are no true kings in this world!"

Suddenly, Lan Fan, still slung over my back, tossed a canister into the middle of the room.

It was a flash bomb.

The room lit up, blinding the homunculi.

Ling and I started making a beeline for where a draft was coming from.

A sword flew in front of us, stopping us in our tracks.

We looked back to see the one eyed man covering his missing eye.

"Nice try…"

He lowered his eye to show us that the eye-patch was missing.

There was a scar over the eye that was hidden.

That eye was open.

But instead of an iris, and oriborus mark filled his eye.

"… but that flashed bomb didn't succeed in blinding _this_ eye."

Ling and I were both shocked.

The ruler of Amestris was a homunculous.

Lan Fan tossed out another bomb.

The room lit up.

Ling and I crashed through the window.

Then, the room exploded and smoke started surrounding the room we were in.

Ling and I, both, landed on our feet in the street.

Ling was clearly in pain but he insisted on taking Lan Fan from me and throwing her over his shoulder.

We ran through the streets and ally ways.

Gluttony and Bradley kept following us.

Soon, Lan Fan started talking. "What happened to me?"

Ling was worried. "What's wrong?"

"My arm."

I looked at him arm to see that it was just flailing about.

"My lord, I'm useless to you now."

"What are you talking about?"

"She can't move or feel her arm."

"You burden yourself with me. I you do, they'll only get you, too."

Ling looked at me. "You know healing alkehistory. Isn't there anything you can do?"

"When some one can't feel or move any part of their body it means that the nerves have been cut off from the brain. There's nothing I can do to fix that."

"A king is no king without his people, but a people without a king would be lost as well. You can't do that to them! My lord, think of our clan. You must live for their sake!"

"I won't leave you!"

"Sometimes, some one must be left behind. For the greater good."

She took out a kunai.

"Lan Fan, what are you planning? No! Don't do it!"


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7

Lan Fan dug the kunai into her flesh, cutting right through her bone and slicing her entire arm off.

It fell to the ground with a huge splash of blood.

Ling, slowly and gently, lowered her to the ground.

Using my water alchemy, I created some ice that I covered the wound with to stop the bleeding.

"That can only stay on for 5 minutes at a time, other wise she'll get frost bitten. We need something to tie over the wound."

Ling threw his yellow shirt off and tied it around Lan Fan's stump.

"What do we do now?"

Lan Fan struggled to speak. "Use… the arm…"

I looked back at her removed limb and found a stray dog sniffing at it.

"Use it… to throw him… off… our trail."

"What does she mean?"

"The blood trail; the left over blood in the arm will make a trail that follows the dog. Then, King Bradly will follow the dog, not us."

Ling and I rushed over to the dog.

Ling held him down while I tied the arm around his body, quietly apologizing to the poor creature.

Once the dog ran away, Ling looked around and saw a manhole. "To the sewers."

I blew the cover off with some steam pressure.

Ling jumped down first and I ease Lan Fan to him before jumping down myself.

Ling turned back to me and said, "Time for us to split up. You take Lan Fan. Look after her."

"And what are you gonna do?"

Anger filled his face and eyes. "I'm going to catch me a homunculous."

He took off down the sewers.

I let Lan Fan lean against me as we struggled down the sewers.

"… I… beat you… How does it feel to be tricked?... You loose this round…"

"Try not to speak."

I took at look and the frozen over stump and released the ice from it, causing the blood to spill faster.

Lan Fan, suddenly, clutched at my shirt.

"You're gonna be okay."

"… This… is the man… that you have… turned down…."

"What?"

"… You think… that…, because you were… being forced into marriage,… that… he's just a… spoiled brat…. Would…. A spoiled brat…. carry dead weight with him…. And refuse to give it up? Would he?"

I didn't answer her.

She was right; only a king, loyal man would be prepared to sacrifice his life for his country and his people.

But… he wasn't sacrificing anything for me.

So which one of us was right? Me or Lan Fan?

Was ling the man she saw… or the man that I saw?

…

After wandering around the sewers for a while, Ling found us again and lead us to an exit.

A blond woman with glasses was waiting with her car.

And, in the back seat, was the fat homunculous, tied up in strong cable.

I help Lan Fan into the vehicle and the woman sped off, saying that she was taking us to a safe place.

We ended up in the country, far from town.

There was a little, run down cabin waiting for us.

We helped Lan Fan into the only bed. I, immediately, wet a rag and put it on her feverish forehead.

I refused to move from her side, icing the stump on and off.

After sun down, the Elric brothers arrived with two men, one with glasses, the other wearing a blue military uniform.

The man with the glasses pushed me out of the way and took a look at Lan Fan. Apparently, he did autospy for the military, so he was the closest thing we had to a doctor.

The moment he got his hands on Lan Fan, she started screaming and moaning and, even though they were muffled by the rag in her mouth, they still cut through the air, driving us all crazy.

And Ling was the worst among us.

I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to, silently, comfort him.

Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist, squeezing it tightly, as if squeezing my arm would make everything better.

I couldn't feel my hand, but I let him squeeze.

…

Once the doctor was done, Lan Fan fell asleep, only regaining consciousness slightly, once and a while.

The man in the military uniform came up to me and Ling and stuck his hand out.

"I'm with the State Military. Name's Colonel Roy Mustang."

Ling stood up and bowed before shaking the man's hand, introducing himself.

The Colonel turned to me and said, "And you must be Kai Ying. The Elrics have told me all about you."

I stood up and shook his hand, a little shocked that he knew about me.

"They say that you're fluent in Water Healing Alkehistory and want to learn more Alchemy."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, considering all that you've done, I supposed I can pull a few strings and see if I can get permission to let you take the Exam. If you impress us, you could become a State Alchemist."

I did my best to hold back my excitement. Everything I had worked for was now being offered to me.

But, then, I remembered that the leader of the State Military was trying to kill me just earlier that day.

"Let's figure out what's going on with these homunculi before we start on a new project."

"Good idea."

I could feel Ling's questioning eyes on me.

But, before we could talk we started talking about Gluttony.

Ling gave everyone the news about their King being a homunculous and there was a huge debate on what was going to happen with the Philosophers Stone that was inside Gluttony. Ling wanted it for immortality, the Colonel want it to heal a friend of his and Ed wanted it to get his and Alphonses bodies back.

Right when the argument was at it's peak, trouble hit.

Gluttony started growing and expanding.

He rolled to his feet and screamed, "DIE MUSTANG!"

That's when his stomach split in half, creating a mouth with a huge eye in it.

The sight was grotesque and frightening.

Before we knew it, this thing had blown a whole in wall, sucking up anything in its path.

While everyone ran out of the cabin, Ling and I went to Lan Fan and helped her from the bed.

The doctor grabbed the car and told us to get in.

While we were struggling towards the car, we felt something inhuman, watching us from the bushes. But when we looked, nothing was there.

"Come on, we haven't got all night! We need to get moving!"

"But Ed and the others!"

"No way! I'm a civilian, not military! I'm not about to die in the middle of a battle with come crazed monster!... Damn it! What's taking those idiots so long?"

The others came soon enough, and the Colonel was weak from a wound he received not long ago in a fight with another homunculous.

We helped him and Lan Fan in to the car and the female Lieutenant sat beside Lan Fan.

When the doctor told the rest of us to get in, The Elrics and Ling all agreed to stay and take care of the monster.

As the Lieutenant gave Ed a gun for protection, Ling turned to me and said, "Get in the car."

"How many times do we have to go through this? You don't tell me what to do. I'm staying and fighting."

Ling took my face in his hands and looked me straight in the eye. "Don't be a fool; I'm not letting you fight because I think I'm the boss of you. I'm doing because you can't die. Not here. Not yet. You have so much more to do. You're more than a wife for the emperor. You are a bright, beautiful young lady and you have a chance to be an Alchemist. Don't throw away everything you've worked for. Seize your chance and don't die. Besides, one of us has to survive… for the sake of Xing."

I didn't know what to say.

I was shocked and on the verge of… crying.

He had never said such things to me. He was actually treating me like I was human.

He crashed his lips onto my, kissing me with all his might.

He was kissing me like we would never kiss again. And it frightened me.

Once he was done, he pressed his forehead to mine and whispered, "Forgive me."

He pushed me into the car and closed the door behind me.

The doors locked and the car sped off before I had a chance to move.

I watched Ling as we sped away.

'What does that mean? Why do I feel like I'll never see him again? Why am I so scared?'


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8

Doctor Knox and I helped Lan Fan into his house, to his room and into his bed.

I, immediately grabbed a bowl, filled it with cold water, dipped a rag into the water and let it rest on Lan Fan's head.

After that, the doctor shooed me out of the room, saying that he would keep an eye on her.

All I could do is sit on the couch while the Colonel made a few phone calls.

All I could here is that he and his Lieutenant were going to return to central as soon as possible. That decision didn't sit well with the doctor, since Mustang wound from his last battle had opened up, but there was no stopping him.

Suddenly, Doctor Knox points to me and said, "What should I do about her?"

Mustang turned to me and looked me straight in the eye. It felt like he could read everything that was going on in my head, simply by making eye contact. It made me break his gaze and look down at my hands.

I heard him walk closure to me until he was standing right in front of me.

"I'm very sorry for doing this."

He yanked me up to standing by my arms before bending over and hefting me onto his shoulder.

However, I had been carried like this far too many times to not know how to get free.

I slipped from his grasped and summer saulted once I hit the floor.

I looked back at him with a determined look. "I'm going after him."

He returned my look with his equivalent. "We already have 3 children fighting our fight. I'm not going to let any others get involved."

"Tough."

"Why do you even wanna go after him? I thought you didn't like him. At least that's what Ed and Al told me."

What could I say? What could I say that wouldn't get me laughed at? Or looked down upon? I didn't know. I, myself, didn't even understand why I wanted to go after him.

I looked down, silently admitting that I couldn't answer him.

"Well, whatever the reason for your change in attitude, it's too dangerous for you to go after them. You're staying here."

I glared at the man and said, "You're not in charge of me. You're not my colonel. And, even if you were, I have a history of not listening to anyone else."

Suddenly, he raised his gloved hand, showing me his transmutation circle, ready to snap. "Don't make me do this to you."

I scoffed. "Even if you would do it…"

I showed him my Water Alkehistory Array. "… According to the laws of the elements, water beats fire, always."

Suddenly, I heard a gun cock.

I looked to see the Liutenent was pointing her gun at me.

I scoffed again. "I can make that useless with a simple flick of the wrist. Do you want to see if you pull the trigger before I do?"

Suddenly, something hard made contact with the very top of my head, sending me to my knees.

I clutched my head, hissing in pain as I felt the welt that was already starting to form.

I looked up to see Doctor Knox, glaring down at me with clenched fists. "You really are an idiot! Look at you! You're threatening people who are your side! I don't care what that punk said to you to make you crazy! He's risking his life- we all are – to make sure that you're safe! Are you gonna repay him by putting yourself in danger?"

I looked down at the floor, cursing myself; he was right. These people were risking their lives for me and everyone else and what did I do? Threaten them because I was frustrated.

I looked up at the Colonel and the Lieutenant, expecting to see anger in their faces, but I didn't see it. Their faces were relatively straight but their eyes had a touch of… sympathy?

I looked down at the floor again, embarrassed by my actions and words. "Sorry."

The Lieutenant put her gun away, walked up to me and offered me a hand.

I looked up at her, to find her smiling sympathetically. She didn't say a word but her eyes were saying, "I know how you feel."

I sighed and took her hand. She pulled me to my feet and patted me on the back.

That's when Roy asked the doctor, "Can she stay in your son's old room?"

The doctor turned away and said, "Whatever. As long as she doesn't turn on the light; it'll make the neighbors suspicious."

Mustang looked back at me and nodded, silently telling me that it was okay.

I sighed before following the doctor to the top floor.

He unlocked and opened a door at the end of hall. A bare bed, one night stand and empty drawers was all that was inside. Everything was layered in dust, signaling that the room hadn't been used it a long time.

"Hey."

I looked back just in time to catch the piled of sheets and pillows that were flying towards me. "Make the bed and then go to sleep."

He shut the door behind him, sending the room into darkness.

Luckily, my eyes adjusted to the darkness quit easily, so making the bed wasn't too difficult.

Once I was done, I stripped to my underclothes before slipping into bed.

I was exhausted; after all the running and fighting I had done within the week, all I wanted to do was sleep.

And, eventually, I slipped into slumber with Ling's voice ringing in my head.

_Forgive me_.

…

Darkness.

Darkness surrounded me like a cold blanket.

No matter where I looked I couldn't see a thing.

All I could hear was water, dripping from somewhere in the distance. Echoes followed every drop.

A sickening smell filled my nose, making my stomach lurch. The smell was so bad that I fell to my knees and had to hold my hand over my mouth and nose.

When I put my other hand on the ground for support, it landed in a puddle. That was, disgustingly, warm and sticky.

Just then, the puddle began to glow.

Blood red.

Not water.

Blood.

I started to panic at the site. My breathing became rapid and erratic as. I jumped to my feet and tried to step away from the puddle. But, when I looked again, it wasn't a puddle anymore. Blood was covering the entire floor.

Dripping.

I found where the dripping blood was hitting the floor.

But where was it dripping from?

I gulped and pushed my stomach back down before forcing my self to look up.

My eyes burst into tears.

My legs trembled so badly that I just fell to my knees.

Shivers ran all along my spine and arms.

This horrifying site was the cause for my hysterics. Ling. Hanging from a noose. His face cover with cuts, bruises and swollen skin. I giant whole in his head, causing blood to drip down his hair. Gapping wholes in his torso. All his blood, dripping down his legs, arms and hands.

My sobs filled the air and fell in the darkness that surrounded me.

_And to think…_

The haunting voice of King Bradley made snap my eyes open, jump to my feet and look around frantically for the monster.

But there was no one there. Only darkness. Even Ling's body and all the blood was gone.

_That fool died from excess baggage like you. If you hadn't run away, he wouldn't have had to die. How does it feel to be a murderer?_

Instantly, I was surrounded by a ring of fire.

I through the this smoke, I could see Ling's bloody, beaten and angry face. No matter were I turned, there he was, glaring the life out of me.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

And with that, I bolted up.

The sun was shining through the window.

My clothes, forehead, sheets, everything was covered in sweat.

I took so many deep breaths just to calm myself down.

I flopped back onto my pillow and shielded my eyes from the sun with my arm.

But the moment I closed my eyes, the blood and flames came back right back.

That made me jump right up out of bed.

I rushed right to the door, grabbed the door knob and twisted as hard as I could.

The door was locked.

I started banging on the door as if my life depended on it. "DAMMIT! OPEN THE DOOR!

Heavy foot steps approached the door. A hard fist started banging on the door. "I DON'T TRUST YOU ONE BIT, YOU BRAT! SO JUST SETTLE DOWN!"

I kicked the door before throwing myself back onto the bed in despair.

Why the hell did I let my guard down and behave? I should have distracted them and made a break for it.

I pushed myself up and looked out the window, hopeless and helpless, just the way I hated.

Wait.

The window!

I took a look and the Doctor had, carelessly, left it unlocked.

I threw it open and jumped out, flipping through the air and landing on my feet with ease.

I didn't waste time before bolting into a run.

…

I stopped in an alley way to rest. I was far enough away from the Doctor's house that I could afford to take a breather.

'Now what? I guess I should try to focus one an aura. If I can find Alphonse's or a homunculi aura, that aura could lead me to Ling. Focus. Focus.'

The moment I closed my eyes, the images of my nightmare came back, making me shiver.

I squeezed my eyes tighter. 'No. No. Don't be afraid. He's alive. He has to be. Just focus and you'll be able to find him. Focus.'

The nightmare faded and gave way to a light. A familiar light. Alphonse's.

But, right next to the light was a deep darkness.

And both the light and that darkness were in the next alley way.

'Better keep a good distance; for all I know, it might be Gluttony with his good nose. And, even if it's not, chances are, all homunculi probably have heightened senses that can sense humans.'

True to my own advice, I made sure to keep an alleyway away from them.

But, as I followed them, I felt like their destination was the worst possible place. The origin of the darkness that I had sense in this country on first arrival.

**Sorry. We haven't gotten to the good part yet but I promised it'll be in the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9

'I hate it when I'm right.'

Alphonse and Gluttony went somewhere under ground. And I could feel the darkness radiating from there.

The moment the two descended, I took a deep breath to gather my courage and bolted toward the door war.

When two shadows showed up at the end of the alleyway, I skidded to a stop.

The tallest was a hooded, masculine figure.

The smallest, I recognized immediately. May Chang; the 17th daughter of the Emperor of Xing. She was 3 years younger than me and from the worst off clan of Xingese society.

I had an idea as to what she was doing in Central but, obviously, she didn't like seeing me; she, immediately, threw a kunai at me. I leaned away to avoid the thing and glared at the little girl.

She just smirked at me. "Kai Ying. You've been causing a lot of trouble lately. Frankly, you don't seem worth all that trouble. So, why don't I just do our homeland a favor, end your families suffering, and kill you now?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Even if you could, Princess, it would not be in your best interest."

"And why is that?"

"You think I don't know why you're here? You want to achieve immortality. Well, you want to do that? You're gonna need me."

"Why is that?"

"While we're both fluent in Alkehistory, I'm the only one of us who has learned anything about Alchemy. Not to mention the contacts that I have here."

"Who could you possibly know here?"

It was my turn to smirk. "Have you ever heard of the FullMetal Alchemist?"

"EDWARD ELRIC? YOU KNOW HIM?"

I had no idea what was going on in the little girl's head and, judging from the blush in her cheeks, the hearts in her and the wiggle she was doing, I didn't want to know.

"You really know the FullMetal boy?"

I looked to that hooded man. A tan man with white hair, blood red eyes and an X-shaped scar over his face. Judging from the description that Edward had given me, this was the Ishvalan man known as Scar, famous for his numerous State Alchemist murders.

'I better act like I don't know who he is. This guys dangerous and will probably take out any one whom he sees as trouble.'

I nodded, answering his question.

I looked to the under ground door, radiating with anger and hatred. I looked back at the two travelers. An ignorant little girl from my country and a man whose eyes reflected all the blood shed that he'd ever seen. And me, a girl running from inequality. All of us were different. But we were headed for the same destination. We all had the same goal.

"Look. I know that you have no reason to trust me and I have no reason to trust you. But, we all need to go down there for one reasons or another. And, truth be told, I don't think any one of us will survive whatevers down their. Not on our own. How 'bout we help each other out? Just for now, at least."

The man looked at me skeptically for a moment. But I had to keep a confident face, otherwise, he wouldn't trust me. He looked between me and May Chang before silently nodding his agreement.

We all got our toughest faces on before we descended.

…

Chimeras.

Endless numbers of Chimeras.

All coming for us.

May Change and I used our best Alkeistory while Scar seemed to blow their brains out with a simple touch of his hand.

'This place is truly evil. To combine so many animal in this horrific way. And to create homunculi from the dead. Who would be so cruel?'

We fought our way through the creatures, falling deeper into the horrid feeling that May Chang and I felt.

Finally we came to a door.

'I'm coming.'

We pushed our way in.

The site shocked me.

The room was made of cold concrete. Metal pipes, gears and tubes sprouted up every way and single beam of strong lighting hit the middle of the room.

The creatures inside were even more shocking. A giant green lizard-like thing with the shapes of human bodies crawling out of its skin. Gluttony. And a man from which the feeling was radiating from. Human yet not. It took all my strength not to shiver.

Underneath the feet of the lizard was Al and Ed.

And right behind that creature, was Ling.

It took all my strength to hold back a smile and a breath of relief.

Just then, a little panda ran up to May Chang and hopped right up into her arms.

While the two were reuniting, Ling started clapping and said, "Ho! Now _that_ is a touching reunion, right there."

I caught my breath.

That wasn't Ling's voice.

'What have they done to him? How could they? How could they just take another humans body and use it for their own twisted experiments? Don't they know? Don't they know all he's done for his country? For his people?... I thought that nothing could be worse than killing…. But this…. this is unforgivable….'

"Hey you! Taller girl!"

I snapped my eyes opened and glared at the monster posing as Ling.

He smirked at my glared and said, "Has anyone ever told you how sexy you look when you're angry?"

That made me snap.

And Scar and May Chang snapped at about the same time.

The lizard creature said to Gluttony, "Go ahead and eat the outsiders. They can't use their alchemy in here."

With that Gluttony descended upon us and he was going to start with Scar. Scar acting quick and blew his brains out as he did with the chimeras.

May Chang started yelling at Edward. Something about toying with the feelings of a maiden. And, and with that, she threw five kunai into the ground near by the boys and the lizard. Then, she drew a star formation at her feet, placed a kunai at every point and worked her alkehistory.

This made ground turn into a fist that punched the lizard and threw the thing into the air, releasing the boys from it's grasp.

And even through all this commotion and chaos, I was focused on one person and one person only.

I threw myself into the air, performing flips and martial arts moves. In mid-air I created two sabers out of ice before I decided down upon the imposter.

He looked up just in time.

His arms started glowing as struck at him.

And, the next thing I knew, our faces were two inches away. My swords were crossed in front of me. And he was holding right onto my blades. And not a drop of blood was oozing from his hands. His black hands.

My shock amused this monster. I could tell by his chuckle. "Ultimate Shield, baby. Nothing can get through it. In short, you're in way over your head."

I clenched my teeth and growled at him. "Let. Him. Go. Give him back."

He looked confused for s second but, then, he said, "Aw, you were friends with the kid. Aw, you poor thing. You don't even know." I narrowed my eyes in confusing. He smirked and leaned in close, whispering into my ear, "In order for me to give something back, I had to have taken it, right? Well, guess what, honey; he gave himself up _willingly_ to me. All I did was accept the body that offered."

I shook my head at him, refusing to believe it. "You're lying."

He let out a huge laugh before pushing me away and throwing me to the ground. "Even if I was, it doesn't matter, whether I took the body by force or not. What does matter is that he's gone…. and Greed is here to stay!"

I flipped to my feet and resumed my attack, giving it everything I had.

I was slicing at him while also throwing in martial arts moves. And he either dodged with ease or took everything like it was nothing, laughing at me the whole time. But he wasn't making a move to fight back.

"Fight back, coward!"

"I don't fight women, dear…"

He took hold of my arm and tugged me close to him. He held my face and said, "And I especially don't fight women when their… well built." Naturally, he looked my body up down when he said this, smirking the whole time.

Baring my teeth, I swing my leg around throwing him off balance and onto his back.

I made two figure-eights with my swords, held them fast, knelt down over the assholes body and started to slam the blades down, the points going right his neck.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

His voice made me stop, the tip of blade just barely touching his neck.

He smirked up at me. "I may have control over his mind, but this is still his body. Kill me… and you kill him."

I froze, looking at myself. I had nearly kill the man who had hunted me, treated me like property… and then asked for my forgiveness.

I disgusted myself.

I stagger off of him and threw my swords aside. I ran my hands through my hair, trying so hard not get hysterical and break down crying.

Then next thing I knew, I was being throw to the ground and pinned down. By Greed.

He ripped my Hydro-net gloves off of my arms and tore them tore them to shreds. And I was still in shock, so I couldn't fight back.

I looked around. May Chang, her panda and Scar had disappeared. The lizard was holding onto Ed and Al. Gluttony was one the ground, red sparks flying off of his body.

And the human-yet-inhuman man was just looking down on all of us, giving orders. "Take the boys upstairs. I want them to see Wrath as soon as possible." Then, he looked down at me. "As for you… keep her down, Greed. Once I help Gluttony, he can do what he wants with her."

So, this was how it was going to end. A man only start to trust ends up as a host for a monster and I get eaten by another monster while he watches.

"… Hang on."

Everyone looked at Greed questionably. "Instead of feeding her to Gluttony… why don't I take her."

The head man looked at him, confused. "What use is she to you?"

"Well, I get bored easily. I gonna _need_ something to entertain me. And besides, you know me;"

He smirked down at me. "Greedy for all the women I can get."

I looked away from him, almost preferring to get eaten.

After a few moments of silence, the head man said, "Very well. There's a room prepared upstairs. Take her and do what you will."

Greed smirked again. "Don't mind if I do."

He got off me and pulled me to my feet by my arms before throwing me over my shoulders. Before I could even make a move to get out of his grasp, a pipe flew out and wrapped itself around his waist, securing my legs down.

"Hey, thanks for that old man. Can't let sneak away."

I struggled against him as he walked up the stairs, screaming at the top if my legs. No matter how I hit him and struggled, he was not bothered. He didn't even yell at me to be quite.

Finally, we came to a door.

He kicked it open and marched inside.

He sliced the pipe of with his shielded nails before throwing me onto the bed.

To my shock, he started walking out of the room, saying, "I'll come back once you've cooled down. In the meantime, take a shower and make yourself comfortable."

I went running at the door, trying to get there before he closed it.

I couldn't make it. It slammed shut just before I slammed into it.

I kept jiggling at the knob and banging of the door, yelling to be let out.

Eventually, I just fell back onto the floor, exhausted, sweaty and horse.

The cold floor invited me to sleep and, soon enough, I gave into that darkness.


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10

I started to wake up from my dreamless sleep. And the site of where I was sickened me. I had just hoped that it would all have been a bad dream. That I would have woken up in our hotel room, or in rush valley. Or even back in Xing. Just as long as Ling… was Ling.

For many minutes, all I did was listen. Listen to the silence. Thank goodness that was all I could listen to; if there was anything else for me to hear – another person's breathing, movement, anything – would have made me break down.

Suddenly, my eyes finally began to process. There was something different about the room.

I looked straight at the door.

And there, handing from a metal hook, was a red silk dress, much like ones that were worn in Xing. But no honorable woman in Xing would wear this particular type of dress; if I had worn the dress I would've had a bare back. A good amount of my cleavage would have been visible because of the diamond shaped hole in the chest. The slit in the dress would have gone all the way to my hip.

Pinned to the dress was a little piece of paper that was written in a type writer. "As you requested."

Greed had requested this dress for me so that I could be his little toy. Well, I wasn't having it.

I slid my hands into the little hole in the chest and pulled it apart, ripping the dress right down the middle. Then, I ripped the slit in the dress all the way up to the shoulder.

Once the dress was in a stomped-down pile on the floor, I took deep breaths, calming myself down.

Suddenly, a smell filled my nose. A sweet, fragrant smell. Coming from the bathroom.

I, cautiously, approached the half closed door and slowly pulled it open.

It was dimly lit in the room, but even I could see that the bath tub was full of steaming water. The steam itself smelled of some flower that I didn't recognize. Bottle of cleaning soaps were surrounding the bathtub.

I knew that it was probably something else Greed had requested for me. Some excuse to get me unclothed and vulnerable if the dress didn't work. The last thing I wanted to do was give a chance to take advantage of me.

However, it had been as least two days since I had bathed or even changed clothes. And I was so sore and exhausted from all the fighting and running I had done. And the water looked so inviting.

'… If I'm in, out and dressed before he gets back, he won't have a chance…'

That was all I needed to convince me.

I stripped down and slipped into the water, feeling immediate relief. I just sat in the water for a while, just enjoying it as it was before I began washing all the dirt and sweat out of my hair and off of my body.

By the time I got out, I felt a little better than I had when I had woken up.

I still felt alone and cold.

I wrapped myself in a towel and looked at my clothes. My under garments were fine but my main clothes were still damp with sweat and cake in dirt and blood.

'… I guess I could wet them up and let them dry a little bit.'

I ducked my clothes in the tub before draining it. I wringed all the water I would out of them an huge them up right under the ventilation system.

But that left me in my underwear and a towel, hoping that he wouldn't come back before my clothes were done drying.

The weren't a whole lot of places for me to sit down, so I had to give into the kings size bed that was, unfortunately very comfortable and extremely inviting.

'… Let me just close my eyes for moment. What can happen in a moment?'

I didn't even bother with the blackest. I just fell onto the pillows and closed my eyes, breathing heavily and relaxing as best as I could.

…

Water.

Rushing water.

Coming from the bathroom.

I snapped my eyes open.

I sat up. My towel come completely undone so I rushed to re-do it.

From the sound of the water, Greed was taking a show.

Good, that gave me a chance to grab my clothes.

I jumped of the bed and made a beeline for the bath room door.

The door was locked. I tugged and jiggled at the knob as hard as could but it didn't give.

'Now what do I do? The ripped dress is even gone, and that would be better than nothing. Think. Think. What can I do?'

Once I got an idea, I ran over to the bed, throwing the blankets back and setting up the pillows to look like a human body. Once I had accomplished that, I threw my towel right on top of them and had it poke out from under the blankets, which I threw right onto p of the towel.

The water was just stopping. Good timing.

I hurried over to the door and pressed myself up against the wall on the hinged side of the door.

I took a couple deep, quiet breaths to calm my nerves and to prepare myself.

I heard the lock of the door click.

'Please, let this work.'

The, slowly, creaked open, almost to the point of squishing me.

I heard hit wet, bare feet hit the cold floor as he, slowly, walked out of the bathroom.

I heard him stop for a moment, just a few feet away from the door. This made me hold my breath.

He resumed walking, making his way around the foot of the bed.

'Now's may chance.'

I rushed around the door and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me and locking it.

I turned around… and found that my clothes had been ripped to shreds. Nothing was at all usable.

'… Maybe I can refuse to unlock the door until he gets me some proper clothes.'

I heard the locked click of, much to my shock and panic.

I whipped around just as the door opened.

He stood there, his hair out of its ponytail and dripping wet. A small towel was, thankfully, wrapped around his waist. And he was smirking like he was the most brilliant thing in the world.

I lifted his hand, jingling a set of keys. One of which opened the lock on the bathroom door.

"Picture, if you will, my amused surprise, when I found an attractive woman, sleeping soundly on my bed, in nothing but a towel and her underwear."

I started backing away from him as he stepped closure.

"And the irony in this is that, if you hadn't ripped up that dress I got for you, you would have had something to put on."

I hit the wall, pressing myself up against it as much as I could. But that just made his smirk grow wider.

"To think that it would be this ease to get a feisty little thing like you into a vulnerable place."

By now, he was right in front of me. He rested his bent arm on the wall right above me. He pressed his other arm against the wall, entrapping me in between his arms. He towered over me, his face, inches from mine, his hot breathe right on my face.

I clenched my eyes shut tightly, knowing that he had me beat.

He chuckled, "But, you know what? It was all just too easy for my taste."

I snapped my eyes open, wondering what he meant by that.

He smirked down at me and said, "You know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking that I want to see just how far I can push you. Let me see how much it takes to get you angry. After all, I did say that your anger is sexy."

I was done being afraid at that point. I glared up at him with my teeth bared.

He purred, "Well, it seems we're off to a good start. Now, give me a moment to get some pants and then, how bout you give me a back rub."

Right as he was starting to pull away, I challenged him; "What if I don't?"

He looked at me like I was joking for a moment. Then, with incredible speed, a reached his hand behind my back and, single handedly, undid my brazier.

I crossed my arms over my chest to keep myself from falling out.

He leaned in and whispered it my ear, "That's what."

With that he, left the bath room.

As I heard him rummage around a bit, I cursed myself; the one thing that I hated being was helpless. And I let myself get into a helpless situation.

'What am I gonna do?'

"Oh, massage girl? I'm ready."

I took a deep breath, snapped my bra back on and marched out of the bathroom.

Greed was lying face down on the bed in nothing but pants. He smirked at me and patted his rear end, saying, "Take a seat."

I took another deep breath, trying to restrain my anger before I did as he asked and sat on his butt.

I shoved his long, wet hair aside, revealing Greed's broad shoulders.

No. Those were Ling's. They would always be Ling's.

I started rubbing his back with all my might, trying to hurt him in any way I could. But he either had an incredible resistance or my attempts at pain were futile.

Time went on and as we stayed in silence, I almost forgot that he wasn't Ling anymore. In my mind, I was messaging Ling.

But, then, I'd hear his wretched voice – he'd moan or tell me where to rub - and I'd remember that it's Greed. And I start trying to hurt him again.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he said, "Grab the lotion from the bathroom, toots. This message is missing something important."

I took a deep breath and restrained myself from trying to strangle the bastard. I pushed myself off and marched into the bathroom. I grabbed the lotion, took some more deep breaths, and walked back out.

But, the moment I saw him, I stopped.

He was, now, in the middle of the bed, on his back with his head at the foot of the bed.

He noticed that I had stopped and this made him smirk. He propped himself onto his elbows and started rubbing _Ling_'s carved torso. "See something you like?"

I glared at him like there was no tomorrow. But he just laughed and said, "You can come over here and rub lotion on it… as much as you want."

Translation: "Rub my chest or I'll take advantage of you."

I swallowed my anger and climbed onto the bed, sitting right next to him.

Just when I was going to squirt lotion into my hands, he spoke up again. "You know, sitting on my hips will give you a better angle."

I ground my teeth together before I swung my leg over and straddled his hips.

His smirked was wider than all hell by now. "Don't forget to rub my hands, toots."

I, angrily, squirted lotion into my hands, rubbed them together and slapped them down on his chest.

His pecks.

The crevasses in his six-pack.

The creases in his arms.

I rubbed every inch of his chest.

I remembered the first time I saw that chest. It was the day that Ling and I first really met. Who would've guessed that this was how things were going to end up?

I was rubbing his hands, as he had requested, lacing and unlacing my lotion-covered hands with his rough ones.

At that moment, he took things too far.

He took hold of my wrists and pushed me back. I fought him the whole way but he had the advantage over me.

He pushed me so that my back was against the headboard with my hands pinned above my head. His entire weight pushed down on me, forcing my legs apart, much to his enjoyment.

If what he said was true and I was sexy when I was angry, then, at that point, I was drop-dead-sexy.

I wriggled underneath him, baring my teeth and growling at him.

And he was just basking in the anger. "Oh, stop it. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to turn me on."

"GET. OFF. ME."

He just purred at me before slamming his head into my neck and beginning to devour it.

I thrashed my head around, trying to stop him in any way I could but, I think, it made him even more interested.

"Mm. I could just eat you up, little goddess."

I froze.

"… What did you just call me?"

"Sh. Sh. Not a word."

"You called me 'little goddess'."

"Shut up, toots."

"Ling's the only one who calls me that."

It was his turn to freeze.

He slowly pulled away from me, an irritated scowl on his face. "I told you; he's gone. Let him go and embrace the new."

"It's just you in his body. In the end, he's the one who's putting the moves on me. Not you."

The next thing I knew, I was on the floor, my cheek throbbing with pain. And a tugging pain was coming from the top of my head.

His sour breathe was hissing right in my face as he said, "If you remember nothing else, remember these four things. He's gone. I'm here. This is my body. And you are mine."

Threw me back onto the ground.

I heard him march across the floor and out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

That left me. On the ground. In a ball. Crying.


	11. Chapter 11

Part 11

How long had I been there?

A few days, I supposed.

I couldn't tell. There was no watch to check the time, nor was there a window to the time by the sun.

The whole time, I had been in the room by myself. At least, I'm pretty sure I had been alone the entire time; I dosed off sometimes so Greed my have returned and left while I was asleep, but it was, highly, unlikely. I had no idea where he went but I hadn't seen him since he slapped me.

And, I was still in my undergarments.

I sat with my back facing the door, my knees pulled up to my chest.

Ever since Greed had slapped me, I always wondered; would Ling have hit me like that?

I kept coming up with the same answer. No.

This made me miss him even more.

To the point where I remembered a song I had heard many years ago.

_I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears  
And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave  
Your presence still lingers here and it won't leave me alone_

These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real  
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears  
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears  
And I held your hand through all of these years  
But you still have all of me

You used to captivate me by your resonating light  
Now, I'm bound by the life you left behind  
Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams  
Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real  
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears  
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears  
And I held your hand through all of these years  
But you still have all of me

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone  
But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along

When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears  
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears  
And I held your hand through all of these years  
But you still have all of me,

The last note faded out into silence.

Suddenly, a mass of fabric, angrily, fell on my head and shoulders, followed by the sound of leather hitting the floor.

I didn't have to look to see who it was.

His gruff voice cut through the room like a sword. "Put those on. Wrath wants to have a word with you."

The door slammed back shut and locked.

I pulled the fabric off my head and looked at it.

It was a navy blue military uniform, just like the Colonel's and his Lieutenant's.

And behind me were the black boots.

Why give me a military uniform? And who is Wrath?

I, slowly, slipped into the uniform, feeling awkward in these foreign clothes.

The moment I got done, the door opened again. This time, greed was accompanied by a man with long, green hair and pale skin.

He spoke in a harsh voice. "Hurry up."

He walked out of the room and Greed jerked his head towards him, silently telling me to follow him.

I followed and Greed brought up the rear.

We ended up in an elevator. The man, called Envy, and Greed stood in front of me, to make sure that I didn't run out the moment the doors opened again.

Right as the door was about to open, Envy flashed and turned into a blond man in a military uniform.

Once the door was open, we found ourselves in a building full of military personal.

I had a good guess as to where we were; Central Command Center.

As we walked through the halls, I had to wonder; how many of these soldiers were fooled by Envy's disguise? How many knew everything that was going on?

Finally, we came to some double doors.

Envy pushed the doors opened.

And there, sitting calmly and drinking tea, was Fuhrer King Bradley.

At that point, my heart and my breathing just stopped.

When I didn't make a move to step into the room, Bradley, said, quiet sternly, "Come in, Miss Kai Ying."

I took a deep breathe and straightened up, putting on the toughest face I could. I slowly stepped into the room, pulled out a chair and, cautiously, sat down. Greed followed me in and leaned against the wall, scowling and crossing his arms.

Envy closed and locked the door, leaving us to ourselves.

Bradley took a sip of his tea and, then, said, "It's been too long since we've seen each other, Miss Ying. How is your friend doing? The girl who was excess baggage."

That just made me grit my teeth, refusing to respond.

"Well, no matter. We're not here to talk about her anyways. This is about you. Now, Father has deemed you useless to our cause and would have fed you to Gluttony if it weren't for Greed. This, you know. However, I don't find you as useless."

I didn't like where this was going. Not one bit.

He laced his fingers together and rested his hands on the table.

"A little birdie told me that you've got impressive skills in the way of Alkehistory and you're very eager to learn Alchemey. In fact, the birdie said that, besides escaping a life you didn't want, you came to Amestris with one goal in mind; to become a State Alchemist."

I kept a straight face, refusing to show him that he was getting me interested.

"Well, I can make you a State Alchemist. You could have all that you've ever wanted; Alchemy, knowledge, the life that you want. And you wouldn't even have to take the Alchemy Exam. And just think, you won't be locked up in that cold room all day."

'Sounds like a pretty big bonus. And with a big bonus, comes a big catch.'

"There are of course, boundaries to this. You can never interfere with our plans and you must do everything that your higher ups tell you. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING."

'Which means if they tell me to kill a child, I have to do it.'

Bradley reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny new pocket watch, just like Ed's, complete with the military symbol.

"So, what do you say, Miss Kai Ying?"

I had often wondered when and how I would be offered one of these pocket watches.

I had worked so hard to get to this point.

I fought to no end.

I closed my eyes and slowly lowered my hand onto the cold pocket watch.

I second passed before I chucked the wretched thing right back at Bradley. He caught it with one hand with no trouble at all.

His glaring eyes met mine.

"… That's a real shame. Envy?"

The door opened again.

"Escort these two back downstairs."


	12. Chapter 12

**Ok, I know! You can all throw stuff at me because I've been in 3 plays since school started, so I'm sorry, but now I'm back.**

**Also, most of this chapter is just Greed learning about Kai so it's a lot of recap. Skip to where the …s are for the new stuff.**

Part 12

Envy escorted us Greed and I back to our room.

The moment the door closed behind us, I started ripping the military uniform off; being nearly-naked in front of a pervert was way better than being stuck in those wretched threads that was the cause of the countries horrid history.

Back in my undergarments, I fell onto the bed, tried and angry.

Silence cut through the room.

I felt Greed sit on the other side of the bed.

More silence.

I felt his piercing eyes fall on me.

I felt him shift of the bed; he lay down behind me and start stroking my shoulder and arm. All the while, he spoke into my hair.

"So you prefer a warm bed to cold military uniform?"

He couldn't fool me.

I sat up, looked him straight in the eyes, and said, "You're confused. You can't figure out why I turned him down."

His silence told me that I was right.

"You don't know anything about me, do you?"

More silence. Right again.

"Did you even know my name before today?"

Silence and refusal to look me in the eyes. He might as well have given me the answers.

"You're in his body; surely, you must have his memories."

"… When it comes to you, he cuts me off…"

"… Then allow me to fill in the blanks."

He seemed shocked but he accepted my offer to tell him about myself.

"Well, for starters, my name is Kai Ying. I come from the country of Xing. My father is the chief of the Ying clan. I'm the only daughter and, because I am, my life was decided for me the day I was born. According Xingese tradition, when ever a new Emperor ascends the throne, he must take 51 wives, every single one a daughter of a clan chief."

"51 wives? Sounds like heaven and hell at the same time."

I glared at him for, both, interrupting me and for the comment. He raised his hands, letting me know that he was sorry and I could continue.

"Taking the chief's daughters as wives had always been a way for an Emperor to retain control over all of Xing. It's a petty way of making sure no one can start a revolution. But I didn't want that life. I didn't want to be anyone's wife, and certainly not the future Emperor's wife."

"Babe, with all due respect, you're crazy; you would be an Empress if you married the Emperor! Think of the money! The property!"

I rolled my eyes and said, "I don't care about status or money. What I want is freedom; I had been studying Alkehistory all my life and I wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn Alchemy. I wanted to come here and become a State Alchemist so that I could learn anything and everything. I didn't want to have someone else, like my family or my Emperor, make my life; I wanted to make it for myself. So, not too long ago, on the night of my 16th birthday, I ran away from home and made my way to this country. After weeks of traveling, I had, finally, made it and, on my very first day in this country, I made friends with a State Alchemist and his brother."

"Wait, you mean the midget is a State Alchemist?"

I glared at him for interrupting me again before I continued. "It was as if the Gods were helping me to my goals. But, then, a problem followed me from Xing."

"The prince."

I nodded. "He came with the news that my family had changed their policy and had promised me to any of the Emperor's sons who could get me back home, regardless of whether or not that son became the Emperor. Naturally, Ling grabbed me the moment he could and refused to let go. I hated him for it. We fought so much. I, finally, got to the point where I cracked and spoke my mind right to him. It shut him up for a while but, when it came time for a fight against Wrath and the others, he still acted like I was his property. He forbad me for joining the fight but, of course, I didn't listen. I got involved and that was where I met the one you call Wrath. The leader of the military and of the country. I crossed an entire desert to become a state Alchemist… and the tyrant I wanted to work for was no different from the tyrant I left behind. I look at the monster and I see the Emperor."

By then, I was staring off into space, thinking about all the people who had suffered at the hands of the Emperor… and how Ling and I were still suffering because of a new enemy.

Greed snapped me out of my trance. "If you hated the kid so much, then why do you want him back so badly?"

I looked at him, letting him know that what I was about to tell him was serious. "The last time I saw him… he asked me to forgive him…. And he told me to survive…"

"… And that was enough?"

"It's certainly more than you've done. It's more than anybody's really ever done."

He was pissed about my sassy remark but he held himself back from hitting me.

After that, silence just fell. I just think that he didn't know how to process the information. How could he know? He wasn't human and never had anybody who he, honestly, cared for.

After what seemed like eternity, he just stood up and walked out without a word.

…

Hours later, Greed kicked the door open in a panic.

He froze the moment he saw me

"What's wro-"

He rushed over to me, grabbed me, and tugged me into his arms, pressing his lips to mine.

There was something different. No. Something familiar.

He wasn't being rough or disgusting. He was being considerate.

My eyes shot open in realization.

'Ling.'


	13. Chapter 13

Part 13

Ling pulled away from me and looked into my eyes.

"Ling, wh-"

"There's not time to explain now. We have to get out of here. Here, put these on." He shoved a set of sweats into my arms, along with some flat shoes. "Hurry."

I wanted to keep asking questions, but I did as he told and threw the clothes on and slipped into the shoes.

With that he grabbed my hand and tugged me along.

We ran through the building, eventually making our way to an underground system full of pipes and wires. We never ran into any armed forces, but we never stopped to look back or give them a chance to find us.

Finally, we found our way out of the under ground and in the woods at the edge of Central.

We both collapsed in the grass, exhausted and out of breathe.

I lulled my head to side, looking at the panting Ling.

I rested my hand over his and squeezed it.

He looked at me a returned the squeeze.

Moments of silence passed as I was thankful for his company. Judging from the look on his face, he was doing the same.

The, suddenly, he bolted up, tugging me with him.

"What's wrong?"

He took my face in his hands and started rubbing my cheek… the cheek that Greed had slapped that first day. He checked my arms and legs, everywhere. He was making sure I wasn't hurt anywhere else, even though he didn't say that he was.

"I'm fine."

He didn't looked convinced. He rested his hands on my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. "Did he defile your purity?"

"He never got around to, thank gods."

He sighed with relief and pressed his forehead to mine.

We stayed like that for many moments before we decided to keep moving.

As we walked through the woods, Ling told me about what happened.

"We were walking through that underground passage that you and I escaped through and we ran into an old friend of Greed's. See, there was another Greed that died before this one fused with my body and this chimera, Bido, was a friend of his. At first, Greed didn't know who he was and killed him for the sport. But the moment that Bido died, the old Greed's memories fill the new Greed's head. I managed to use this against and got him to the point where he was so mad that he went and attacked Bradly. Apparently, he was responsible for the death of the old Greed's other friends. Needless to say, Greed is no longer welcome in central, so, while he was confused, I took over and came for you."

"It sounds so complicated."

"Believe me, it was."

We both, suddenly, heard a rumbling coming from his stomach. After all he had been through, I wasn't surprised he was hungry.

"Guess we better find some food."

…

We had been searching and walking around for hours.

Not one edible plant existed in the Central woods.

I was fine but Ling was nearly collapsing from hunger. He tried to act tough but I could tell he was fading.

We ended up at the cabin that we camped out in when Lan Fan was injured. It was still in pieces from when Gluttony went berzerk.

We managed to get to the entrance of the cabin before Ling collapsed. I, immediately, knelt to his side. "Ling!"

"Ling? Kai?"

I looked up and found Ed on the other side of Ling with two big guys standing behind him.

"Ed!"

Ling's stomach growled again. "Hungry. Need. Food."

…

Ling had just finished devouring all the food that Ed and the big guys had. The blond man was known as Hienkle and the black hair man was Darious. I gave them a polite bow while I was on my knees and said, "Thank you for giving him food. Sorry he didn't any for you guys."

"What are you both doing here? I thought you'd both still be in central."

"Well, to put it lightly, Greed had a falling out with the other homunculi, so I took advantage of his confusion and managed to regain control of my body." Ling grunted. "We had to get out of central and we need someplace close by to hide, so we-" He started shaking and moaning in pain and rigidness.

"Ling!"

"What's the matter?"

"It's Greed! He's starting to fight back."

Ling started holding his head in pain as I went to his side, holding his shoulders. All the while, Ed started hitting him on the head, telling him to fight back.

"Ed, stop it!"

"Listen! That guy beneath Central – the one that they call their father – He's gonna open the portal on the day of reckoning. I could be wrong about this, but I think you and Al should jump in when he does; it's the best chance you have to get your bodies back."

I had no idea what it all meant but it meant something to Ed; he asked for the date of this "Day of reckoning."

Before Ling could answer, Ling could feel Greed coming out and had to ask about the message he gave to Lan Fan.

"Sorry, that's it for me. I'm going."

Silence.

"Ugh. Damn. That pain-in-the-ass prince. Needs to learn to keep his mouth shut."

Greed was back, much to my despair.

He started to walk away and, when Ed asked why he wasn't trying to capture him, Greed explained that, just like Ling said, he was no longer welcome in Central. He was just gonna do his own thing.

Then, Ed offered him a place in their group. The offer shocked all of us.

In no time, Greed was laughing at the offer. "Team up with you? You want _me_ to follow _you_? Thank for the laugh. Up yours, kid! This world is my possession, not yours. Now, it's a different story if you wanna follow me. You're welcome to join my team."

He started to turn and walk away, but then he said, "Of course, one of you…" He turn to me with a full on smirk, "… doesn't have a choice in that matter."


	14. ATTENTION READERS

NO I'M NOT ABANDONING THE STORY!

I'M STILL WORKING ON IT!

The problem is that, when it comes to writing, I'm a little ADD. What happens is that while I'm writing a story, I'll see a movie or watch a show that steals my mind and inspirations... Plus, I'm also in college.

I promise that the story will continue once I steal my mind back from Rise of the Guardians.

Just for you guys.


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